Ditching-machine.



R. Y. KBSSLER.

'DITCHING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED MAY20.1911.

nventor 1 by I Attorneys Witnesses R. Y. KESSLER.

DITCHING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY20,1911.

1 ,039,4:1 2. Patented Sept. 24, 1912.

Witnesses v Inventor R. Y. KESSLER. DITCHING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION FILED MAY 20.1911.

I 1,03 9 4 1 2 Patented Sept. 24, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

Attorneys more especially to the machines for doing moral 14 designates a shield curving around UNI . RICHARD YATES KESSLER, 0F MORBISONVILLE, ILLINOIS.

DITCHING-MAGHINE.

Specification 01' Letters Iatent.

Patented Sept. 24, 15km;

Application filed may 20, 1911. Serial No. 628,404..

To all whom it may concern: 4

Be it known that l, RIcr-mnoY. Knssm-zn, a citizen of the United States, residing at lvlorrisonville, in the county of Christian and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Ditching-Machine, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to excavating, and

this work whic include a wheel having buckets around its periphery; and the object of the some is to produce an improved ditching machine which is intended to be drawn and its wheel rotated by a slow-moving traction engine and which will avoid many of the objections hitherto existing in machines of this kind.

To this end the invention consists in the details of construction hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and as set forth in the drawings wherein Figure 1 is a right side elevation of this machine complete, with the adjacent face plate removed, but shown in dotted lines. Fig. 2 is a plan view with the face plates of the casing omit ed. Fig. 3 is a horizontal. section on the line of Fig. 1, showing the face plates in section. Fig.4 is a vertical section on the line et--l of Fig. 1, again showingthe face plates in section. Fig. 5 is a perspective detail of the scraper or ejecting mechanism,showing also a fragment of the main wheel or ring and one of the buckets. Figs. (3 and 7 are perspective details of the face plates of the casing detached.

In the drawings the numerals 5 refer to the side bars of the main frame which preferably rectangular as best seen in Fig. 2 and these bars are connected across theirfront and rear extremities by short bars or beams 6 and 7 to the former of which the traction engine is connected in a manner which will not be necessary to illustrate or describe. Depending from the rear end of the framework is a standard 8 which may lie-made longitudinally and vertically adjustable as at 9 in any desired way, and braced as at 10, and the lower end of this standard carries a skid or runner 12 which itself may be braced as at 13; and the nufrom the point of the runner 12 to the stand- Md 8 and preferably braced as at 15, this shield being for a purpose to be described hereinafter. As customary with machines of this kind, the skid or runner 12 travels in the bottom of: the ditch, and .it therefore may be desirable on occasions to effect its adjustn'icnt as at 9 according to the depth of the ditch. It will be noted that the upper and lower parts 8, rcouirc but slight adjustment, the skid or runner being sulficiently flexible to permit of ,th is adjustl'nen't. As above stated, the draft mechanism is attached to the front end of the device, whereas the runner or supporting mocha nism is attached to the rear end thereof. A. part of the framework is the face plates best seen in l igs. (3 and 7, but these will bedescribed later.

The numeral 20 designates a lar e bullwhcel or ring which is preferably 0' L-iron comprising a flat rim 2.1 and a radially projecting flange at one edge thereof as seen 5 in Fig. 5, the flange in the present drawingsbeing shown as at the right side of this machine; and 23 are rollers mounted on a skele ton framework 2% attached to the main framewm-k, and through which this ri'nfi 8 supported by and permitted to rotate wit p the latter. My preferred means {or driving this ring consists in providing it with an internal rowof teeth which engage a pinion 26 mounted on a w der shaft 27 and g5 driven from any suite is source not necessary to describe, excepting that the speed of rotation should be rather slow. Around the periphery of this ring are mounted buckets 27 each secured at one side as at 28 to the I flange 22 and open at its other side as at 29 in Fig. 5, and the front edge of each bucket has a knife or cutter 30 which is here shown as curved although that is not essential to the successful operation of the ma- 5 chino. The buckets are spaced some little distance apart and their .bodies preferably tapered slightly to the rear, although this is a matter of detail and depends COIlSldQltBr bly upon the nature of t c earth bein worked and the size and depth of the ditc being out. In practical use the fastening means 28 will doubtless be rivets or something of a nature which will permit the buckets to be removed from the wheel or 1015 ring and others to be substituted so as to adjust the machine to different conditions. Cooperating with this wheel and its buckets are the face plates best seen in Figs. 6 and '2. The right hand face plate 30 it will be observed is nearly or substantially circular contour, and is of a,size to cover the ope ing within the ring and extend at its edge under the flange 22 so as to prevent soil from getting into thls side of the ring. The left hand face plate 31 is somewhat larger as seen, the enlargement being a radial exten sion which commences at the point'32 at the bottom and extends up around the front of the ring to the point 33 nearly at its top, thereby throughout this' ortion of the ring taking the place of the iange 22 which, as above stated, isomitted from this side of the rim 21 of the wheel or ring 20. It follows that when the latter is rotated in the direction of the arrow and simultaneously moved slowly forward, the buckets descend at the rear side of the wheel and take up earth at the bottom of the trench and from thence upward to the p'oifit where they leave the ground, their cutting edges 30 cutting into the soil and their bodies 27 accumulating it so that it cannot fall out at one side by reason of the presence of the flange 22 on the rim of the wheel and it cannot fall out at the other side by reason of the presence of the flange or extension 32 on the left hand face plate.

The action just above described removes the soil from the trench or ditch being formed, but when the buckets arrive at the top of the wheel 20 sone means must be pro vided for emptying them. I therefore employ the ejector best seen inFig. 5, and: this consists of a scraper i0 of about the shape shown and so located as to travel upon the rim -21 of the wheel and against its flange 22, and a suitable bracket 41 supports this scraper from the framework. One side of the scraper is beveled as at 42,- and as the filled buckets pass the scraper its beveled side forces their contents out of their open sides 29 in a manner which will be clear.

Cooperating with the ejector just above described 1 preferably employ any suitable fin-1n of conveyor for carrying off the soil ericavated by the buckets and ejected from them by the scraper, and in the present illustration l have shown this conveyer as con sisting of a bafile wheel having blades '51 standing radial to its axis which latter is held in bearings 52 mounted on the main frame, and one end of the axis is provided with a pinion 53 which derives motion from a large gear wheel 5% mounted on the power shaft or from other suitable source not necessary to amplify. The left hand casing may be inset as indicated at 55 so that the blades of this wheel may extend as far inward as possible, the obvious purpose being that it shall catch all dirt which is forced "ut of the uppermost bucket by the scraper 4.0,

The operation of thisniachine is as follows: The skid or runner 12 having been seated in the ditch (whichit is assumed has either been partially dug or has been started by hand) and a traction engine connected to shaft 25, the machinery is started and the ditcher is drawn slowly forward while the v power shaft is simultaneously rotated in the proper direction. The buckets on the ring descend into the already opened trench or ditch and their cutting edges from the lowest point up to the surface scrape up the soil and accumulate it within their bodies. Both sides of the ring are closed by the face plates and its rear by the shield in a manner above described, and hence as the machine progrosses through the earth the soil is kept out of the inside of the ring and cannot gain access to the gears or rollers, in addition to which the left hand face plate closes the open sides 29 of all buckets until they reach the top of the ring where the ejector is located. The latter dislodges the accumulatedsoil within each bucket in a manner above described, and it falls next onto the conveyer hence it is delivered to the proper point. It the conveyer be a baffle wheelas herein described, the soil falling onto it is simply tossed to one side of the ditch but suiiiciently far away from the same so that it cannot fall into it, although it can be filled in later by hand after the workmen have put the pipes into the ditch or done whatever is desired thereto. Otherwise as heretofore stated, the details, proportions, and materials of parts are not essential to the successful operation of this machine.

What is claimed is:

1. In a ditching machine, the combination with an upright ring, buckets carried by its periphery and each open on one side, a main frame, means for pivotally supporting the ring therein, of two face plates carried by the frame, one of them lapping the ring on that side thereof where the buckets are closed and the other lapping the ring on the otherside thereof and having a peripheral extension covering the open sides of the buckets from the lowest point of said ring to a point above the surface of the earth,

2. In a ditching machine, the combination with an upright ring, buckets carried by its periphery and each open on one side, a main frame, means for pivotally supporting the ring therein, of two face plates carried by j the frame, one of them lapping the ring on that side thereof where the buckets are closed and the other lapping the ring on the other side thereof and having a peripheral extension covering the open sides of the buckets from the lowest point of said ring to a point above the surface of the earth, an ejector carried by the frame just in rear of the last-named point, a runner traveling in the ditch behind the ring, and a curved shield carried by said. runner and its sup port and eii'tending rearwardly from the lowest point of the ring around the periphery thereof.

3. In a ditching machine, the combination with an upright ring, buckets carried by its periphery and each open on one side, a main rame, of We face plates carried by the frame, one of them lapping the ring on that side thereof where the buckets are closed and the other lapping the ring on the other side thereof and havlng a peripheral extension covering the open sides of the buckets from the lowest point of sa ring to a point above the surface of the eaith, an ejector located just in rear of said last-named point and having a beveled side, the shape of the ejector bein such as to scrape the material out of each ucket which passes over it, and a bracket mounted on the main frame for supporting said ejector and connected with it at a oint over Which the open side of each buc et passes. a

4. In a ditching machine, the combination with an upright ring comprising a fiat rim and a radial flange projecting from one edge thereof, a frame Within which said ring is supported, means therein for rotatin the ring, and face plates carried by the rame and lapping the ring, the plate on that side of the ring opposite its flange having a radial extension from the lowest point of the plate around its front to a pomt near its top; of substantially tubular buckets each having one side closed and connected with said flange and the other side open, and an ejector consisting of a triangular scraper resting upon the rim and against the flange of said ring just in rear 0 the last-named oint and of a shape to eject the material rom each bucket as the latter passes over the scraper and a bracket connecting the scraperwiti the main frame and standing in position to permit the open side of eac bucket to pass astride it. I

' In testimon that I claim the foregoing as my own, I ave hereto afiixed IIIYSlgIlflture 1n the presence of two witnesses.

. RICHARD YATES KESSLER. 

